The FIFA Club World Cup

The tournament is contested by 32 clubs from across the world. Most qualify by winning their confederation's leading club competition during the four-year qualifying cycle, while remaining places are filled through a ranking pathway based on continental performance. Every confederation is represented, although the allocation of places is weighted towards Europe and South America.

The current 32-team format was used for the first time in 2025, when the tournament was hosted in the United States. Chelsea won the first edition under the new format, beating Paris Saint-Germain in the final. Before 2025, the Club World Cup was a smaller annual event with six or seven teams after its first edition in 2000, usually staged as a short end-of-year or winter tournament.

The 32 clubs are split into eight groups of four, with each team playing the other three in its group once. The top two from every group go through to a knockout stage that runs round of 16, quarter-finals, semi-finals and final. There is no third-place play-off. The structure is similar to the 32-team World Cup format used from 1998 to 2022, except that the Club World Cup has no third-place match.

The tournament runs across about a month. Extra time and penalty shoot-outs are used to settle knockout matches that are level after 90 minutes. Group matches that end level after 90 minutes stand as draws and award a point to each team, as in any league or group stage.

The Club World Cup is now scheduled for the years between FIFA World Cups, in a summer slot after many European domestic seasons have finished. The tournament is hosted by a single country or a small group of countries, with the venue announced several years in advance.

In the earlier annual format used from 2005 to 2023, the tournament was usually played as a short end-of-year or winter event. The shift to a four-year cycle was confirmed by FIFA in 2022, and the 2024 calendar year was left without a Club World Cup as the new format was prepared.

The basic principle is that the winner of each confederation's main club competition over the previous four years qualifies for the next Club World Cup. From UEFA, that means the winners of the Champions League across the four-year cycle. From CONMEBOL, it means the winners of the Copa Libertadores. The same broad principle applies to the leading club competitions in Asia, Africa, North and Central America and the Caribbean, and Oceania, although Oceania's single place is decided through results across the qualifying period rather than four separate champion places.

The remaining places are filled through FIFA's confederation ranking pathway, which is based on club performance in continental competition across the same four-year window. For 2025, Europe received 12 places, South America six, Asia four, Africa four, Concacaf four, Oceania one and the host country one. Country-limit and duplicate-winner rules also affect the final list of qualified clubs.

The first FIFA Club World Championship was held in Brazil in 2000, with eight teams from across the confederations. Corinthians won the inaugural edition. The tournament then went on hiatus from 2001 to 2004 after the collapse of FIFA's marketing partner left it without funding.

The competition returned in 2005 as the FIFA Club World Cup, a six- or seven-team annual event that was usually played around December or early the following year. This was the format most readers will be familiar with — a short, mid-season tournament featuring the continental champions, won most often by European clubs. The third phase began in 2025, when FIFA expanded the tournament to 32 teams and shifted it to a four-year cycle modelled on the World Cup itself.

The new format adds a major tournament to the summer that previously held only international football. Clubs that reach the later rounds play several extra matches in what was previously a recovery period for their players. This has prompted concerns about player workload, and the prize money for the 2025 edition was significantly larger than under any previous format in an attempt to make participation worthwhile for the clubs involved.

The tournament also affects the wider football calendar. Because it is played after many domestic seasons have finished, clubs that go deep into the competition can lose part of the period normally used for rest, recovery or pre-season. The four-year cycle avoids a direct clash with the men's World Cup finals, but the expanded format has still prompted concerns about player workload.